When it comes to hosting a website, the decision between shared hosting and a dedicated server can have a considerable impact on the performance of your website as well as the cost of hosting it.
When compared to dedicated hosting, shared hosting is comparable to living in an apartment building since several websites share the same server. On the other hand, dedicated hosting is more analogous to having a separate house because the entire server is dedicated to your individual website. Management, performance, resources, security, and cost are some of the considerations that should be taken into account while making a decision between the two.
In this article, we will talk about the differences between shared hosting and dedicated servers and help you understand which option will be the best for your website.
What is the difference between shared hosting and a dedicated server?
Shared or web hosting allows multiple different users and website owners to share one single web server. On the other hand, if we talk about dedicated hosting, under this, you get a separate dedicated server for your website. Usually, the price and plans for shared hosting are much cheaper as the dedicated resources like bandwidth and storage are limited in shared hosting.
Any shared hosting will cost you between $1 and $20 per month, while dedicated hosting will cost you $100 to $1000 per month. Yes, you heard it right. Dedicated hosting is mostly designed for big businesses and professional websites that need complete control over the server’s environment and can ensure website performance. And thus they are quite expensive.
Let’s look at a few things that, in my experience, one should consider while selecting web hosting for their website.
Web Hosting vs. Dedicated Server – Management
Shared Hosting – Shared hosting is designed for people who have just started their digital journey and do not have much experience or technical skills to control everything. If you go for shared hosting, you will get limited access and no customization option on the configuration of software.
You can get access to cPanel, but with that, you can only manage databases, files, email accounts, logs, and analytics to improve your own website. But the good thing about shared servers is you will get technical staff support who will take care of any technical glitches within the shortest time possible. Also you do not need to worry about configuring your website as it will be managed by the company itself.
Dedicated server – A dedicated server is designed for individuals looking for complete control over the server environment. For that, you need to have experience and technical skills to configure and maintain the server on your own. But even if you do not have technical skills, you can still have a dedicated server and hire an external engineer to help you out with configuration and management.
Web Hosting vs. Dedicated Server – Flexibility and Customization
Shared Hosting – Shared hosting does not give you many options to customize because if you make any change to the backend, it will impact all the websites on that shared server, not just yours. In some shared hosting, you might get features like more FTP and cloud storage, but that is the limit of how much personalization you will get in any shared hosting plan.
Dedicated server hosting – On the other hand, with a dedicated server, you get complete customization of features and more. You can even change and configure the environment to run specific tools or applications and optimize the amount of storage and bandwidth you might need to run your website smoothly.
Web Hosting vs. Dedicated Server – Bandwidth
When compared to shared hosting, dedicated hosting has more speed. With dedicated hosting plans, you actually rent a whole web server just for your website. This means that all of the server’s resources, like storage capacity, bandwidth, and processor power, are only used by your website.
These changes make your site run better, load faster, and be more reliable because other sites on the computer don’t affect your site’s performance. Dedicated hosting usually comes with better web server parts, which makes your website more reliable and stable.
Also, dedicated hosting plans often come with unlimited or very large amounts of bandwidth, which means your website can handle a lot of visitors without having to pay extra.
Web Hosting vs. Dedicated Server – Online Security
When it comes to cyber security, no amount of security can actually be 100% safe for your databases and website. But certainly, you can take precautions to safeguard your data. In this matter, shared servers are more vulnerable to malware attacks. The reason is that one single server is shared with a group of sites, which gives more options for security breaches.
If you are hosting your website using a dedicated server, you can actually get better security than other hosting. You can also install external security software to provide an additional layer of security to your database and files. But you cannot do this same thing with shared hosting plans.
Web Hosting vs. Dedicated Server – Scalability
When it comes to scaling, you need to measure the two hosting options in terms of resource allocation, customization, and more. In simple terms, since limited resources are provided in shared hosting, the scope of scalability is less.
Dedicated servers are more scalable, considering you can install hardware upgrades and additional servers for your server and website. This allows businesses to accommodate high growth and adapt to changing needs.
Web Hosting vs. Dedicated Server – Costing
When it comes to pricing, shared hosting is the superior option when compared to dedicated hosting. Due to the fact that you are sharing the server’s resources, you are also agreeing to share the cost of those resources. In general, the cost of shared servers can range anywhere from a few dollars per month to 10-20 dollars per month, depending on whether the costs are paid on a monthly or annual basis.
Due to the fact that they give you complete access to the hardware that you select and offer superior performance, single-user servers are often more expensive than shared servers. The prices of dedicated servers typically begin at $100 per month and increase according to the number of upgrades that are purchased.
Pros and Cons – Web Hosting vs. Dedicated Server
Pros and Cons of Web Hosting
Pros
- More budget friendly making it the perfect option for beginners and personal website owners with medium or low traffic.
- It is user-friendly as it requires very little technical expertise to set up and manage the server.
- With shared hosting, you also get managed services where the hosting provider helps you out with backups, security, and updates.
Cons
- With shared hosting, you get limited amounts of bandwidth, storage, and other resources as you share a single server with a bunch of other website owners.
- You get limited control over what is going to change or the server environment overall.
- There might be some vulnerability in terms of security.
Pros and Cons of Dedicated Hosting
Pros
- Big businesses mostly use dedicated servers, as they offer higher performance, reliability, and uptime as you get a server solely dedicated to your site.
- Enhanced security, as there are no security threats from other sites.
- Full control over configuration and server environment.
- Can be easily scaled as you get unlimited bandwidth and storage with a dedicated server.
Cons
- Can be expensive due to unlimited resources and security.
- You need to have certain experience and skills to handle all the technical configurations of this server.
- Not suitable for small websites with less traffic.
How to Choose the Right Hosting Solution?
Choosing the right hosting solution for your website can be complex if you are new to the industry. Some of the tips that can help you are –
1. Understand your website needs
You need to understand and make a choice of which category your website falls in. You can do this on the basis of the traffic and conversion rate of the website.
2. Compare hosting solutions
Look out for various hosting companies providing hosting plans. You can read Trustpilot reviews, research reviews, and feedback from users on various websites. Some of my favorite hosting solution providers are Exabytes, BlueHost, HawkHost, Cloud Ocean, and more.
3. Check out their features
A few things that you can look for in features are bandwidth, storage, uptime guarantee, cPanel access, cost, DDoS protection, SSL certificates, and more. You should also look for hosting that has responsive and dedicated staff for support in terms of any technical glitches and more.
4. Find the best plan
As the majority of web providers offer a variety of hosting services, you must conduct thorough research prior to selecting the appropriate hosting package for your website. Take into consideration the cost, disk space, bandwidth, and features. A further consideration is to determine whether they provide managed or unmanaged hosting.
You also need to see what your budget constraints are and where your break even is for what you are investing.
Can Exabytes Be Your Choice Of Hosting?
Exabytes is a web hosting company that offers a range of hosting solutions such as domain registration, shared hosting, reseller hosting, WordPress hosting, and VPS Solutions. They have data centers in different parts of the world, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the USA.
The company also provides tailor-made business solutions for various medium and large SMEs to grow your business. They are known for their 99.9% uptime guarantee, along with SSL certificates and daily backups. They also provide a flexible web control panel, and currently, they are providing their services to more than 160,000 clients globally.
Some of the other products that are being offered by Exabytes are Instant web design, Google Workspace, digital marketing solutions, and business web hosting. While all the other services are there, I really like their web hosting solutions.
They have three different types of web hosting plans- Business web hosting, WordPress Hosting, and cPanel Hosting. The Ebiz mini plan starts at just $0.99 per month, which is a saving of 80% on the 3-year. Apart from this, I also like their cPanel web hosting solution, which will range from $2.99 per month to $30 per month.
If you want dedicated servers, Exabytes offers multiple options for servers such as Windows, Linux, SSD VPS, and more. The price for dedicated server plans starts from $119 per month and comes with free setup.
Under their hosting solutions, you get features like email accounts, SSD Storage, weekly backup, website security, Ultra LiteSpeed server, and more. Check out their plans today, as you can save 80% on the 3-year plans.
Some of the other reasons why you should consider Exabytes are –
- Provides many different hosting plans that are beginner-friendly and low-costing.
- There are always discounts and deals going on throughout the year.
- 99.9% network uptime guarantee along with many features.
- 24/7/365 customer support to assist you in your hosting needs.
- Free domain name and weekly backups. (you can also get daily backup with advanced and pro plans)
- 30 days money back guarantee.
How do you save 80% on Exabytes plans?
Follow the below steps and save 80% on Exabytes hosting plans:
1. Click on this Exabytes link. Here is a link that will take you to Exabytes’ main page, where you can see all of their plans.
2. You will have different plans. Choose the plan as per your requirements.
3. Now, select a new domain or enter your existing domain if you have any.
4. In the next step, select the 3-year plan to save 80%, or you can go for the 2-year plan and save 64% on the pricing. Then click on “Continue.”
5. On the checkout page, fill in all the required details and proceed to make the payment.
Keep in mind that there is no coupon code. The discount will be taken care of immediately when you finish the checkout page.
5. Pay the bill. You will get all the information, including proof of payment, in your email once the payment goes through.
Conclusion
Finally, when it comes to selecting the appropriate hosting option, it is necessary to have a thorough grasp of the requirements of your website, conduct research and comparisons of hosting providers, examine the most important features, locate dedicated support, and read reviews of web hosting businesses. By adhering to these guidelines, you will be able to locate the hosting service that is most suitable for your expenses and requirements.
